Henri, Sophie, & The Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound: Poems Blasted from the Vortex by Tom Holmes

Part history, part aesthetic statement, part obsession, Henri, Sophie, & The Hieratic Head of Ezra Pound: Poems Blasted from the Vortex is, most of all, a lyrical exploration of life lived like the sharp cut of a chisel through marble. Henri Gaudier-Brzeska knew that blade hewing stone could reveal energy, that art was controlled energy; Holmes’ poetry – sharply chiseled – both maintains the formal precision of a cut through rock and the passionate intensity of the lives it follows – simply, these poems allow us to see that Henri and Sophie lived in the intense heat of lives blasted out of an important historical moment. This is no small accomplishment. Pound wrote, “Only emotion endures.” Holmes has written of a compelling story in a fine collection of poetry that shows Pound’s assertion to be accurate.

– Tod Marshall, author of The Tangled Line and Dare Say.

Tom Holmes is often asking questions into the ether. One such recent question wondered who is making the new language, who has a fresh perspective on our poetry? In a roll-back-the-clock kind of way, Tom has answered that question with this book. He has managed to invigorate an under-appreciated branch of Modernism and reconstituted it for contemporary readers, achieving a hybrid of the archaic and the new, which is wholly enjoyable to read.

– Thom Caraway, author of A Visitor’s Guide to North Dakota.

_________________
Tom Holmes is the editor of Redactions: Poetry & Poetics. He is also author of After Malagueña (FootHills Publishing, 2005), Negative Time (Pudding House, 2007), Pre-Dew Poems (FootHills Publishing, 2008), and Poetry Assignments: The Book (Sage Hill Press, 2009). His work has also appeared on Verse Daily.

Book Information:

· Paperback: 98 pages
· Binding: Perfect-Bound
· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books]
· ISBN: 9781935402565